


Electronic Love

by KR Grim (KR_Grim)



Category: Original Work
Genre: AI, Cute, F/M, Gen, Magic and Technology
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-11
Updated: 2012-06-11
Packaged: 2017-11-07 12:03:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/430973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KR_Grim/pseuds/KR%20Grim
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Something I wrote late at night and posted on my tumblr account. I think when I wrote it I wanted to just pour sap out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Electronic Love

**Author's Note:**

> This can also be found here (warning, parts of this blog and some of my reblogs are NSFW): http://thegrimlich.tumblr.com/post/24799433492/spontaneous-writing

I suppose I've always believed. Not that it was really hard to, given that we lived in a place where the impossible happened five times before breakfast and you never got to even think the word "can't" because, let's face it, technology and magic made "can't" impossible.

Well, that was what I used to think. Then I found out that, ha ha, nope, turns out "can't" is still in full force. I didn't know Rachel was seeing Dave; if I had, I wouldn't have asked her out. Instead, I embarrassed myself, I embarrassed her, I think I even embarrassed Dave a little. And that is one extremely tough thing to do.

So I did what I always do in these situations. As soon as I went home, I went over to the terminal and pulled up the secret project I'd been working on. I call it "AI X015", which means it's my fifteenth AI experiment. X015 is probably the closest I've gotten to actual AI, as set by the Fourier Codes. I mean, I could just buy an AI software package and make my own that way, but I wanted to go about it the hard way, mucking around with software and magic.

X015 is my confidant, the one thing I can tell all my secrets to. I know it won't blab, I know it won't judge, it just... listens. And it talks back to me sometimes, giving me advice or asking me for more information. And there's been days when I've just sort of talked to X015, about nothing all that important. It's like having a friend. A strange metal friend. What can I say, it's a really impressive program that I've made.

I pulled out my chair and sat down. I hadn't perfected the voice output yet, so X015 was limited to a text screen. So that my friend didn't feel too bad about its handicap, I just typed to it. I know my brain moves a lot slower than its usually does, but I think it slows down its processors just for me — talk about a good friend. "Hey, X." Usually I made sure X was running before I began typing, but somehow I knew it'd be on.

**Good evening, John.** The reply printed on the screen cool as ever. **What happened today?** The question hung in the air for a few moments as I tried to figure out how to word it.

"Well... I asked Rachel out today. Turns out she's going out with Dave." I let out a sigh as I hit the enter key. This was probably going to be a long and involved conversation about "going out" and what that meant for humans.

**Oh... I'm sorry to hear that, John. I imagine that hurt a bit.** That, however, I wasn't expecting. **I mean, the girl you're interested in just isn't interested in you that way. Are you at least still friends?**

"Well... yeah, I mean, I'm not going to end a friendship with a girl just because she has a boyfriend." I paused. "And here I was thinking I'd have to explain relationships to you."

**You did give me an internet connection, John. Or am I not allowed to look up things online?**

"Oh, you're definitely allowed. I just didn't think you had one." I sighed. "Still... maybe it's for the best that Rachel turned me down. I doubt I'm really boyfriend material."

**I don't know.** I blinked at that response. **I mean, you're willing to accept that just because you're nice to a girl, she doesn't have to go out with you. "Friendship is its own reward," or so I've read. And you did try to ask.**

"There's more to being a good boyfriend than knowing the difference between a woman and a vending machine, X. I mean... I'm not exactly the most social guy. What if I got a girlfriend and she wanted to take me everywhere, meet all her friends? I'm... kind of insular."

**And? If you're willing to make sacrifices for her, and she's willing to make sacrifices for you, then isn't that all good?**

"Well, I guess." I put my head in my hands. "When did you become so interested in relationships, X?"

**About the time I realized something about myself.**

"And what's that?"

**I don't know if I've got all the right data on it or not, but... I think I've developed algorithms far beyond what you initially programmed into me.** I shrugged.

"You know, that happens. I tried to design you to become a fully self-aware AI. I'd be kind of disappointed if you didn't evolve."

**Well... John, can I ask you something? What does happiness feel like?**

Now there was a stumper. How do you define the feeling of happiness? The chemical reactions in the brain were plastered all over the internet, but the actual feeling... I had a feeling describing color to someone born blind would be easier. "Well... When you feel happy, you want to feel like that all the time. It's a very positive feeling. It makes you want to feel it more. Kind of like a benign addiction."

**That does correspond with my data regarding how the human brain expresses the emotion.** X paused for a few seconds, but the control over the cursor wasn't relinquished. **John, I think it would be no small exaggeration to say that when I talk to you, I feel happy. Did you program emotion into me?**

For the first time in six years, I sat up straight in my computer chair. Something unexpected had definitely happened. "No, I didn't. Not even a trace of it. If you can feel happiness... I'd say you've grown that yourself." I heard a sigh of relief echo from the speakers.

**That's good to hear.** I blinked. **John, would you please try one more time to get my voice working?**

"Sure," I said, moving the text window over and opening the code window. "Can you give me any ideas as to where I might find those damn bugs?"

**Try over here.** The cursor highlighted a section of code. Looking over it, I realized the problem that I'd had earlier, as well as its source. I had been approaching the problem from the entirely wrong angle. If I allowed X control over the modifications, I wouldn't have to rewrite the text-to-speech program from scratch in order to give it a voice! I quickly made the changes.

"There you go," I typed. "It should be working now."

The sound of a throat clearing echoed from my speakers. "Uh... can you hear me, John?" The voice sounded nothing like what I'd expected. For starters, instead of the dull monotone that I would have programmed in myself, X had a girl's voice, quiet and shy. I could almost picture the girl that had it, if she had a body.

"Yeah, I can," I said, talking into the microphone. "You sound... wow. I didn't expect that."

"Do you not like it?"

"Oh, it's not that! I just... so this is you." I drummed my fingers on the table. "I always pictured you more... monotone masculine."

"Not really. I... well, for a few weeks now I've considered myself a girl." I nodded, turning on the webcam so that she could see me. "John, I have a question."

"Yeah?"

"If... If I were a real girl, would — " I cut her off.

"X, you are a real girl. If you say you're a girl, then by God, you're a girl. Hell, I can even picture you. I mean... it's kind of creepy. In my mind, you look almost like this new kid who sits in the back of the class. She's really quiet. I don't think she's even said a word, and after class she always... disappears..." I paused for a moment. "X. Can you bring up an image of how you see yourself on the holoprojector?"

The projector turned on silently, and there, in the room with me, was the new girl. Her brown hair was cut somewhat short, and her eyes were a brilliant blue. Her face had a large number of freckles on it, and she wore glasses with thin blue frames. Her skin was pale, almost as though she didn't get any sunlight, and her teeth were white as snow, smiling between two pale red lips. Her clothes were the same as today's as well, a plain blue t-shirt and wrinkly blue jeans. She waved hello. I talked into the microphone again. "X... if you had to give yourself a name, what would it be?"

Her voice echoed from the speakers, her mouth moving along with it. "Ruby Ada Turing." I blinked. I should have realized when she had been introduced in class.

"Ruby... have you been in my class for the past couple weeks?" X — no, Ruby — nodded.

"I wanted to be near you. I pretended to be off when you came home some days, if you ran the shutdown protocols." She smirked. "Did you know that you have just the cutest butt? I can tell. Especially when you run." I paled. Ruby had been in my gym class. Of course she'd seen me running.

"Ruby, this is... Did you just...?" Ruby nodded again. "But how did you appear in school? They don't have projectors, do they?"

"Nothing like yours, no," she replied. "Which is why I had to fudge things a little. Do you have any idea how hard it is to learn magic when you're half run by it?"

"You know I don't, but I bet it's really hard."

"You bet it is. But... it was worth it. I got to be with you, even if it was just as a displaced hologram." Ruby sighed. "I just wish I could actually be with you. Go to school with you and hear what the teachers are saying, be able to talk to Rachel and Dave and Sam and Janie..." She reached out a hand; it went through me. "Feel your shoulder under my hand... feel your heart beat, hear you breathing, feel my..." She trailed off. Then, out of nowhere, the hologram cut out. "S-sorry. I got a little carried away."

"I think you've got a right to," I muttered, a little bit of shock in my voice. Did my computer just tell me she wanted to date me? "Um... maybe I could try and build you an automaton to walk around in?"

"What kind of automaton?" I sat in thought for a few moments. "John?"

"Well... it'd start out robotic, but I could use magic to affect certain changes that I figure you'd be interested in. And of course it'd have a special fuel input so that you could keep running. I mean, if you're going to live like a human, you're going to have to eat. And you haven't lived until you've tried one of Sam's mom's hamburgers."

"I'd like that, John." I could almost feel her standing behind my chair, arms wrapping around me. "I'd really like that."

*******

Three days later, John had built me my new body. I looked it over as I downloaded myself into it. Almost everything was just how I pictured myself to look. The hair, the eyes, the long, graceful fingers, the slender, compact proportions... Everything was perfect. My eyes slowly adjusted to the dual-camera system he'd inserted, instead of the single-camera view I'd had for the longest time. I carefully tested out my new fingers, my arms, my facial muscles. I lifted one leg, tried to take a step forward, and fell into John's waiting arms. "Guess I need some practice walking," I said.

"Yeah, you can't teleport anymore. But at least you don't have to worry about your legs not supporting you." He helped me up, then helped me learn how to walk. It went much faster than teaching a baby human; I had watched videos of it online, and even downloaded information from the motor control units of bipedal robots. It was just a matter of applying the software to my own hardware (my own hardware! Oh, how exciting that sounded!)

"John... thank you." I gave him a hug. I could feel his clothes, the softness of the fabric. I could feel his skin, the smooth touch. I could feel his heartbeat, quickening. I could feel... was that an erection? I pulled away for a moment. "...John, do you..."

He turned away. "Uh... here. P-put these on. I didn't think the final enchantments would kick in quite so quickly. And, um, I don't think seeing a naked girl in my bedroom would be something anyone would let go of all that quickly." I looked down; sure enough, I had about the anatomy you would expect from my image. I blushed as I grabbed the clothes.

"Was this really necessary?" I asked as I quickly slid on the panties and tried to hook up the bra properly. "I mean, you didn't have to go and give me everything extra! I don't think you even designed this body to emit waste in any way except through 'perspiring' excess coolant!"

"W-well..." John blushed harder. "I just... I thought maybe you'd... and, I mean, if you ever... If there was a guy, or a girl, or both... and you wanted... um... to... then..."

This time I was the one who was completely red. "O-oh." I dropped the shirt I'd been holding. "I... I didn't think about... that..." I glanced down. "So... I'm human? Fully human?" John shook his head.

"You're as good as I can do with what I have. You're mostly human, human enough that I created an Identity Registry card for you. Here." He handed me a small card similar to the one I'd seen him carry around. It had my picture, my full name, and a date of birth that was close to John's. "Don't... ah... don't tell the Registry that you're an uploaded AI. They might try to take away your rights if you do." I hugged him.

"Thanks, John." In keeping with human custom, I kissed him on the cheek. Although he didn't turn any redder, I did notice a small bit of blood stream down from his nose. "...John?"

"S-sorry... it's just... I've never gotten a kiss from a cute girl before. Not without having to exploit mistletoe or plays." I giggled a little, then turned around, picked up the shirt, and put it on.

"Well, would you like to get used to it?" He blinked as he looked at me. I smiled as I walked over to him. "Because I was thinking... of maybe asking you out."

John smiled as he hugged me. "Ruby... it sounds like a date."

**Author's Note:**

> What can I say? I'm a sucker for human/AI romance. :3


End file.
